Revelation Lesson 44: Our Strong God :: By Sean Gooding

“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, ‘Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.’

“4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. 7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ 8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.’” – Revelation 18:1-7

Once again, thanks for the responses to the articles. The Lord has opened some doors for me to share the Gospel over the past week. All three of the people I am speaking to are Catholics. Keep praying, keep studying and be prepared to tell others of the hope that is in you. As we venture in to chapter 18, we will see more about the destruction of Babylon.

Babylon has Fallen – Revelation 18:1-2

This angel, another of the same kind as mentioned in Revelation chapter 17, is coming from Heaven and is illuminated so much that he lights up the darkened world. He was visible to all of the people, and he begins to cry out in a loud voice about the fall of Babylon. Not only that it has fallen, but that the end of it is that it is a place for demons, for foul spirits and hated birds. This is a place of death. Babylon is like a modern-day Zombie; it is moving and talking, but in reality, it is dead inside.

This judgment pulls back the façade and shows what it really is. There is so much about religion that is just dead inside. Jesus referred to the Pharisees with their man-made rituals as sepulchers, graves full of dead men’s bones. Babylon is the symbol of what man-made religion will do; it fails man and leaves death in its path.

Jesus put it this way in Matthew 7:13-15,

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

Jesus is the narrow gate to life—ONE Way and only one, not many paths to Jesus.

Just recently I saw a quote from a prominent preacher that said something to this effect: “God revealed himself to us one way and the Muslims in another.” This is heresy. The god of Islam IS NOT the God of the Bible and the God who died to save us from our sins. Yet, this man has millions that follow him, and you can walk into just about every Christian book store and see his books. This is how Babylon sneaks in and eventually takes over. There are lots of people, millions in ‘churches’ across the world, who do not know the God of the Bible. Yet they are faithful to their church. They follow men; sadly, these men are wolves and they are leading many to Hell, all the while appearing to be preachers of light. They are mimicking the god they serve. 2 Corinthians 11:14,

“And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

The Nations have drunk the Kool-Aid, Revelation 18:3

We live in a world that equates success with Luxury. The nations of the world have succumbed to the wiles of the harlot, this spiritual whore that embraces everything but Jesus. Just this past week, the EU refused to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Those on Israel’s side and those opposed to Israel are becoming more and more defined; this is all part of the picture of the end.

Jesus, we are told, was poor; he did not even have a place to lay his head, and the ministry was supported by His faithful followers who gave of their time, money and selves to serve the cause. The church in Acts was sacrificially supported by people who sold everything they had and shared it with their brothers and sisters. Acts 4:32-37,

“Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”

The apostles did not get rich off the people; they actually turned the administration of the physical needs over to the deacons in Acts 6. The apostles wanted to concentrate on the study of the Old Testament. Over and over again we are told that Paul, for instance, was poor and had to work alongside fellow believes to meet his needs. For centuries there were small churches all over the world from Europe, to Africa, to the New World; and they were poor, God supplying their need. Many pastors worked another job to meet their physical needs while also teaching and serving.

But now we have these mega-churches that are like the Walmart of churches killing off many of the small community churches that served the Gospel with a deliberately personal touch. Ministers became almost like a ruling class and not servants. Many know a very small percentage of their flock face to face. There is no real intimacy.

In the midst of all this growth, there was the apostasy of Babylon creeping in. You see, the true Gospel for the most part is very offensive to most men; it tells them that they are sinners and unable to please God without Jesus. It tells them they are inadequate and dirty, unwashed and filthy, in need of the salve of the blood of Jesus to wash away their sins. So, the Gospel has to go or be diminished; and churches became filled with programs that never get to the Gospel. Churches helped a lot of people and seemingly loved them, but the Gospel became a trinket and not the main focus.

This is how the heresy of Babylon creeps in; soon man becomes the focus and not the Lord Jesus. People come to hear the preacher, but not to seek God. If that preacher leaves, the church may not survive. Who then is it built on?

As we can see, the heresy of Babylon has crept in. It is amazing how many people in the political places claim to be religious, Catholic, Christian and now more and more Islamic; and yet we see governments all around the world voting to abort babies by the millions, we see corruptions at just about every level, and justice is perverted; it is only for the rich. True Christianity demands openness and transparency, it demands the truth, and does not tolerate injustice. But the governments of the world have all drunk the Kool-Aid, and all for the sake of riches.

The system of Babylon is rich; it is filled with luxury and nice things. Remember the TV show from the 1980s, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? This was a show that opened our eyes to the Luxury and serious money of the world’s rich. Jets, houses, cars and wives. This is what the world longs for, and Babylon offers that to all who will drink from her cup of heresy and denial of Jesus. She offers glory to those who will serve her and defy God.

Come out, Revelation 18:4

I cannot understand why there are God’s people intertwined with this harlot, but they are; and they are warned to get out before God’s judgment is poured out. This calls to mind the story of Lot and Sodom; God could not judge them until Lot was out of the city. Maybe there are God’s people hiding in the city that is about to be judged. I do not think this is the literal city of Babylon in Iraq. But the modern city of Babylon at the time. It could be the Vatican, but it may be where the EU head Office is as well. It may be that the Anti-Christ has a new Head Office that we see now, but do not realize that it will be the new seat of Babylon. Either way, it is the system and the religion of Babylon that will be destroyed.

When I was a young man in seminary, some of my professors thought that Babylon could be in New York where the UN Head Office is; this could be the case as well. It is certainly visible from the sea. Nonetheless, both the physical Babylon and the spiritual Babylon are judged by God. But before He executes His judgment, He allows for his people to leave.

Folks, we need to be diligent to separate ourselves from Rome/Babylon as the Lord’s churches. We need to be aware that they need the Gospel; they are not carrying the Gospel. We need to protect our pulpits, and we need to guard the Lord’s sheep from false doctrine. We do not all worship the same God.

I read this week that discernment is not knowing the difference between the truth and a lie, but between truth and almost truth. A lot of heresy is wrapped up on Jesus’ name. There are many that claim that the New Testament church is the new Israel, that the events of Revelation have already happened, that there is no Millennium, and on and on. They have KJV Bibles and degrees, and they sound like preachers but they are ravenous wolves. Separate from them, they are a part of the system of Babylon.

God sees and Judges, Revelation 18:5-8

The deeds of the whore of Babylon, both spiritual and economic, are seen by God. They cannot hide from Him, and their judgment is coming. They cannot see it; they think they are invincible. Such is the pride of mere men.

We see in Revelation 18:7 that she sits as a queen. There are two ways one can look at this. One is that Babylon is a queen of whores—the bride of Satan, much like the New Testament church is a chaste bride awaiting her King, Jesus. She thinks that her allegiance to Lucifer offers her some degree of protection from God and that Lucifer will actually win. Talk about God sending them strong delusions. Or, we can see that Mary is called the ‘Queen of Heaven’ by those in Catholicism. As such, there is a pride that comes with this idea of royalty. She not only lives in luxury but she has a haughtiness about her that she wears openly. She has not suffered much over time and has caused much suffering over the centuries.

The word ‘render’ in Revelation 18:6 means to give what is due. She is about to get what God has coming her way, and she has earned every iota of the wrath that God is about to dish out. God is going to repay her double for all of her sins against heaven and man. He will execute on her His wrath for all the people, His people, that she has hurt, cheated, sold, killed, ignored and abused.

Imagine the wrath of God for the thousands of children that have been raped and sold as sex slaves over the years by nations and those that have been abused by those that carry the name ‘church.’ Imagine the wrath of God for the wealth that was stolen by lies, the property taken by deceit and/or coercion, and the lives that were ruined, both by the religious and the economic systems of the harlot called Babylon.

Old Testament passages found in Isaiah (chapters 13, 14, & 21) and Jeremiah (chapters 50 and 51) predict the fall of Babylon. God allows this evil to exist for a time as people are being saved and coming to Him for life and forgiveness. But the end of the Gentile age is fast upon us. Babylon, both the religion and the economic system, are alive and well in these, the last days; and together they are hurting millions with false doctrine and false promises of prosperity. Satan is the father of lies; sadly, a large part of the earth hates the truth, so he has a willing audience. In contrast to the destruction that is coming on the children, the city, the religion and the economy of Babylon, read Psalm 91 and see the safety and security we have in the Lord God.